SEEMO Urges Serbia Mayor To Drop Lawsuit Against Newspaper

SEEMO/IPI Press Release:
SEEMO Urges Serbia Mayor To Drop
Lawsuit Against NewspaperVienna, 23 January 2013- The South East Europe
Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media
executives and leading journalists from South East Europe
and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI),
appeals to Dragan Djilas, mayor of the city of Belgrade and
president of the Democratic Party in Serbia, to drop his 120
billion Dinar (1,05 billion EUR) lawsuit against Serbian
daily Kurir and its editor-in-chief, Sasa
Milovanovic.

"I hope that Djilas started this case
like a joke, and not as a serious court case,” said SEEMO
Secretary General Oliver Vujovic. “I hope this especially
after the statement he gave to the news agency Tanjug, as
quoted by B92." Djilas told Tanjug “the request for
compensation is for the same amount that Kurir wrote
was in my possession. All the lawsuits I have filed are for
the amounts which Kurir had charged me. The amount
is, of course, ludicrous, just like the ludicrous claims
that Kurir publishes about me”.

Djilas
brought the court case against Kurir and its
editor-in-chief at the Higher Court in Belgrade on 26
December 2012 over alleged "mental suffering due to damage
to personal honor and reputation". At the same time Djilas
is asking the court to forbid the daily from reporting
negatively on him.

Vujovic said: "If Djilas thinks
that the daily published wrong information, he has of course
the right to protect himself. But there are other ways of
doing so that do not involve a 1, 05 billion EUR lawsuit.
Asking for such an amount of money has nothing to do with
the protection of personal rights, honour and reputation,
but is a clear step towards closing the paper and a clear
attack on press freedom.” He added: "Djilas, as leader of
the Democratic Party (DS), the one pro-European party in
Serbia, in asking for such an amount of money for protecting
his rights, gives a wrong example to other politicians in
Serbia and Europe. Djilas should use other avenues of
complaint and also respect international recommendations
about the maximum amount of compensation to be awarded in a
case.”

As Kurir informed SEEMO, the court
case by Djilas is connected to an article published in
Kurir’s issue of 27 November 2012 in which the
paper quoted a statement made by Petar Petkovic, a member of
the Serbian parliament, during a press conference of the
Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS). Petkovic, in his
statement, claimed that since 2004 Djilas had become one of
the wealthiest Serbs thanks to his marketing business,
giving some financial amounts as examples.

Djilas
should know that as a public figure he must be prepared to
tolerate and bear critical comments.

At the same
time SEEMO is alarmed at the death threats the owner of
Kurir, Aleksandar Rodic, received. According to the
daily, threats arrived at Kurir’s offices stating
that the owner of the newspaper would go the same way as the
owner of the Nacional weekly in Croatia, Ivo Pukanic,
who was killed in 2008. The owner received the threat in a
letter signed with “Atentator” (Assassin) sent from a
post office in Belgrade. In addition, the newspaper received
threats that the building that houses Kurir’s
offices would be blown up.

"I am asking the police
and the Serbian authorities to investigate these threats
against the owner of Kurir and to inform the public
as soon as possible about the results of the investigation",
Vujovic added.

New Zealand likes to think we played our part – via the 1981 Springbok tour – in bringing the apartheid regime in South Africa to an end… Jacob Zuma treated the death of Fidel Castro at the weekend as an occasion to pay a heartfelt tribute to the thousands of Cuban soldiers who travelled across the world to inflict the first significant military defeat on the forces of white supremacy. More>>

Once again at the business end of a US election, the result will hinge on the same old bits of geography as always: the Five Crucial Counties in Ohio, the Two Crucial Counties in Pennsylvania and the I-4 Interstate Corridor in Florida that runs from Tampa Bay through Orlando to Daytona Beach. More>>

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) is convinced of having obtained irrefutable evidence to establish that on 17 July 2014, flight MH-17 was shot down by a BUK missile from the 9M38-series. According to the JIT there is also evidence identifying the launch location that involves an agricultural field near Pervomaiskyi which, at the time, was controlled by pro-Russian fighters. More>>

ALSO:

Former Portuguese Prime Minister António Guterres has emerged as the clear favourite to become the next United Nations Secretary-General following the sixth secret ballot held today by the UN Security Council, which is expected to take a formal decision tomorrow and forward Mr. Guterres’ name to the 193-Member General Assembly for final confirmation. More>>

The coverage of international news seems almost entirely dependent on a random selection of whatever some overseas news agency happens to be carrying overnight... Here are a few interesting international stories that have largely flown beneath the radar this past week. More>>

Refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru, most of whom have been held there for three years, routinely face neglect by health workers and other service providers who have been hired by the Australian government, as well as frequent unpunished assaults by local Nauruans. More>>